


As Long As She Is Happy

by DrogonTheDragon



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, Jealousy, Love, One-Sided Attraction, Takes place during and after season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-31 07:18:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12677052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrogonTheDragon/pseuds/DrogonTheDragon
Summary: Everyone calls Sansa Stark ‘a great beauty’But is she the most beautiful woman in the world?To many the answer is yes.But to Podrick Payne, the answer is no.





	As Long As She Is Happy

**Author's Note:**

> I am really terrible at grammar- you have been warned!  
> Hope you enjoy it!

Everyone calls Sansa Stark ‘a great beauty’ and Podrick doesn't disagree. She carries herself with poise. Her long auburn hair is always neatly braided, never with a strand out of place. Her milky white skin shines in the moonlight, and it glazes in the sun. Her light blue eyes can be as light as a feather, or as strong as steel. Sansa Stark is the definition of beauty. 

But is she the most beautiful woman in the world? 

To many the answer is yes. But to Podrick Payne, the answer is no.

The first time Podrick had ever laid his eyes on Arya Stark was years ago. She was a small, thin child who was traveling with the Hound. Her hair was unevenly short and matted. She wore camouflage colored clothing that were intended to make her look like a boy. Her face and her body were covered in dirt. Arya looked the very opposite of Sansa Stark. She looked the same as every young child in Westeros who wasn’t royalty. Dirty. Tired. Hungry. Haunted. 

But their was something different about Arya. She was tough. She was strong. She practiced with a sword and spoke her mind. Once Podrick realized who she was, he could not believe his eyes. He had heard that Arya Stark was _different_ , but he truly did not know how different until that moment. Back in the Capital, Podrick had heard people saying that she was as wild as her direwolf. He heard that when her wrath reached its peak, she could turn into a direwolf herself. But when he was looking at this young starving child who has gone through so much pain and tragedy, he knew that their was more to her than that gossip. 

Years later when he saw Arya Stark he was stunned. She did not only know how to hold a sword, she knew how to wield it as well. If Podrick was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he would see Arya again. He had complete faith in Lady Brienne, but he wasn’t sure if Arya was alive. But she was, and she walked into Winterfell as though she never left. Since her return, she spent a lot of her time training. She would spare with Lady Brienne and she would spare with Pod. After watching her spare with Lady Brienne for the first time, he knew that she was the most skilled swordsmen he had ever met. She used a small skinny sword, yet she could be beat Lady Brienne who fought with a large heavy sword. Arya would fight with grace. She called her style of fighting ‘water dancing’.

Everyday Podrick looked forward to the time he would spend with Arya. He had to be careful to not refer to her as _Lady_ Arya. The first time he did, she shoved him into the snow. The second time he called her that was when they were sparing. She got angry and began to quicken her speed and she would lunge at him more. He hasn't called her a Lady a third time. 

Everyday with Arya felt like an escape for him. It was an escape from the realism of what was happening in Westeros. When he spent time with Arya, he would focus on her smile, her laugh, the stories she told, or how she fought. He didn’t spend his time thinking about how an army of Wight Walkers breached The Wall and was coming to kill them all. 

Podrick remembers the first time he saw her smile since she returned to Winterfell. It was weeks after she came home and there were mountains of snow all over the grounds of Winterfell. Podrick had been sparing with Lady Brienne for an hour while Arya just sat down and watched them. She didn’t speak. She didn’t move. She was as still as a statue. Her eyes followed their every moves. When they were done he had asked her how he did. She looked at him for a few minutes before she answered. _‘You’re improving’_ was all she said. Right before she turned around and walked away, he saw the corners of her mouth raise. It was the smallest smile he had ever seen before, but it was still a smile. Since then, Arya’s smile has been progressively getting bigger. 

The first time he heard her laugh was when he tried to spin as he was sparing with Brienne and he tripped on his own feet and fell face first into the snow. He never imagined her laugh to sound so… cheerful. It was a loud infectious sound that couldn’t be contained. Her laugh had a mouth of its own. It was light and airy, but also sharp and uncontrolled. Once Podrick had heard it, he prayed to every god he knew of that he would hear it again. 

As the days and weeks went by, the two grew closer. Podrick would sit in the Great Hall and eat his meals with Lady Brienne and sometimes Arya would join them. She would sit with her feet on the table, much to her sister annoyance, and talk with her mouth open. Many people would be repulsed by that, but not Podrick. He found the stories of her travels fascinating and he always enjoyed conversation with her. 

It was about three weeks after she returned to Winterfell when Podrick realised that his feelings toward Arya were not on a professional level. He tried to suppress those feelings because she was Lady Arya Stark of Winterfell. Sister of The Lady of Winterfell. Sister of the King in the North. But no matter how hard he tried, those feelings wouldn’t go away. They would grow. Pod wasn’t sure what he should do. If he told Lady Brienne, she might stop training him how to fight. She might forbid him from seeing Arya. And he would rather fight the army of Wight Walkers by himself than never see Arya again. 

When Lady Brienne told him that they were to go to King's Landing, Podrick felt this this sad feeling swell in his chest. _'I don't want to leave.'_ he thought _'I don't want to leave her.'_

Growing up, Podrick always felt lucky. Even though he was pushed around his whole life, he considered himself fortunate. He squired for Lord Tyrion, who always treated him kindly. He became a squire for Lady Brienne, who teaches him how to fight and defend himself. And then he met Arya Stark. She was hostile towards him at first, because of his relation to Ser Ilyn Payne, but then she put those feelings aside and acted kindly towards him. 

Sometimes when he see’s her smile at him, he thinks that maybe she cares for him as he cares for her. But then he realizes that he is only a squire, and no highborn lady would ever fall for a squire. But at the end of the day, he allows himself to image what it would be like if she reciprocated his feelings. He imagines what would happen if he were to win her heart. The two of them could settle down in a small castle somewhere, or the two of them could travel the world. He would do whatever she wanted to do, as long as it would make her smile. 

When the meeting in King’s Landing had ended, Lady Brienne and Podrick rushed back to Winterfell. Lady Brienne did not want LittleFinger to be left alone with the Stark daughters any longer than he already was, and Podrick wanted to return to Arya. They returned to Winterfell three weeks later. Podrick and Lady Brienne were surprised to find out that Sansa and Arya had executed LittleFinger while they were away. Podrick should have found it unsettling the way that Arya smiled as she told the story, but he didn’t. He was happy that she was able to eliminate one of the bad people who did her wrong. 

Since Pod returned, everything seemed to go back to normal. He would spare with Arya and Lady Brienne during the day, and he would sit with them during meals in Great Hall. Life for Podrick seemed great. But then three weeks later everything changed. 

One morning Winterfell received a raven from Jon saying that he would be there in a week. Arya was so happy, she smiled all day. So one week later Jon and Daenerys Targaryen’s party was spotted an hour away, and Winterfell went into a frenzy. Lady Sansa was directing people and giving out orders. Everyone was trying to make the grounds look clean and welcoming, despite the fact that it was covered in brown snow. Podrick looked over at Arya and noticed that the smile she wore all week faltered. She turned around and started to run, so Podrick followed her. When she finally stopped running Podrick realized that they were in the Godswood, and Podrick saw that she was kneeling in front of the Weirwood tree. 

_“Is everything alright?” He asked her, unsure of what to say._

_Arya was silent for a few minutes before she spoke. “What if he is ashamed of me? What if all of the things I’ve done disgust him and he never wants to look upon my face again?”_

_“Then he is stupid.” Arya turned around to look at him with confused, wide eyes. “If he doesn’t want to look at you or speak to you, it’s his loss. Yes you have killed several people, but all of them deserved it. You didn’t kill people for no reason. You delivered justice for yourself and those who weren’t able to get it themselves. If that ‘disgusts’ your brother, then he doesn’t deserve you.”_

Before Arya could respond, the horns blew and they could hear people yell “The King has returned!” Arya looked at him, and then ran out of the Godswood and towards the gates. When Podrick caught up to her he saw Jon ride through the gates with the Dragon Queen by his side. 

Podrick saw as Jon scanned his eyes over the crowd until they landed on Arya. Jon’s natural scowl turned into the biggests grin Pod had ever seen in his life. He jumped off of his horse and ran towards his youngest sister. Arya ran and met him halfway. She jumped into his arms and all of Winterfell stood there watching in silence. Podrick looked at the smile on Arya’s face and he wondered if he could ever make her smile like that. He was determined to try. 

After Arya, Bran, and Lady Sansa had been introduced to the the Dragon Queen and her party, a meeting was held in the Great Hall. Once everyone had gathered, Jon paused in front of the large blood stain on the ground. He looked up at his sisters for an answer, but all Lady Sansa said was ‘LittleFinger’. Jon looked surprised, but didn’t ask any questions 

Podrick would occasionally look up at Arya and he would see her smiling and looking happy, and that made him happy. But everything changed halfway through the meeting. All of the sudden Arya’s eyes went wide. She stood up, and walked towards the left side of the room and stopped before a man with short black hair, and bright blue eyes. Everyone is the room was watching her. 

_’Milady’_ the man said before bowing. 

Arya looked up at the man, and she wore the exact smile she wore when she was reunited with Jon, and then she jumped into his arms. Podrick looked over at Jon who looked just as confused as he was. 

Podrick found out later that this man’s name was Gendry Waters, and he was the bastard son of Robert Baratheon. Apparently he and Arya had a past that no one, not even Jon, knew about. But since that day, Gendry would spend his free time watching Arya train during the day and Arya would spend her free time watching him in the forge. Gendry also ate all of his meals with her in the Great Hall. Whenever Podrick saw Arya, Gendry was with her. He would always find the two of them together, laughing and smiling. 

Podrick didn’t get to spend as much time with Arya as he had before. When he would see the two of them together, it made him angry. He wanted to tell Gendry to leave her alone. He wanted to tell him that he loved Arya Stark and no one could change that. But he never did. 

One day Podrick saw Arya and Gendry smiling at each other. When he looked into theirs eyes, he realized something: they loved each other. At first Podrick wanted to scream. _’Why can’t she look at me like that? I treat her well. I could make her happy. Why can’t she see that?’_ He wondered to himself. 

He felt terrible the next couple of days, when all of the sudden he realized that it didn’t matter who Arya choose. The only thing that mattered is that she is happy. So if Arya wants to spend the rest of her life with Gendry, then she should. If she wants to spend the rest of her life alone, then she should. 

Podrick will always love Arya Stark, and as long as she is happy, then he will be happy too.


End file.
